Vice President Kamala Harris fired back at Republicans criticizing her trip to Guatemala and Mexico and not the border by saying she is focused on “tangible” work rather than “grand gestures.”
Several groups of GOP lawmakers have made the dusty trek to the U.S.-Mexico border since Harris and President Joe Biden took office, which was followed by a substantial surge of migrants from Central American countries trying to enter the United States. White House officials have acknowledged many migrants saw Biden’s election as a departure from the strict immigration policies of the Trump administration.
On Monday, Harris said while standing on Guatemalan soil that anyone thinking of trying to make the dangerous journey should “not come” because they will be “turned away.” She warned the Biden administration is intent on enforcing all U.S. laws, including those designed to prevent individuals from entering the country illegally.
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U.S. border agents detained about 178,000 migrants in April alone, the highest one-month total in 20 years.
Republicans for months have questioned when Biden or Harris would visit the physical U.S.-Mexico boundary to see the influx of migrants for themselves.
“Kamala Harris should stop at the US border on her way to Mexico and Guatemala tomorrow to see Biden’s record-breaking border crisis firsthand,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted on Saturday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham was even more blunt in March: “Here’s my message: President Biden and Vice President Harris, with all due respect, get off your a** and go to the border and look and see what you have caused by policies that will not work,” he said in a television interview. “Quit denying the obvious.”
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On Monday, Harris told reporters in Guatemala, during a press conference with that country’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, “I will be focused on that kind of work as opposed to grand gestures,” stressing that her focus on root causes is about taking “tangible steps.”
